❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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I woke up to someone wrapping my hand in theirs and a cold cloth being pressed to my forehead. I shivered, despite the blankets that were wrapped around me. My eyes fluttered open and I smiled weakly at Percy, who held my hand in his. I tried to sit up, trying to figure out where I was but Percy pushed me back into the lounge chair gently.
"Silena." I smiled at her. She adjusted the cloth on my forehead and smiled back at me.
"Hey sleeping beauty."
I laughed a little, grimacing at the pain in my arm from moving it. "You think I'm beautiful?"
She grinned back, picking up on my attempt to focus less on the pain as Will unwrapped the bandages around my arm. "I think you're stunning."
"Well, isn't that a relief." I made the mistake of glancing away at my wound and quickly took to studying Percy's eyes. The bleeding had stopped but the gash looked deep. The skin around the cut was a horrible shade of green.
"Nova..." Percy choked up and I took my other hand out of his and pushed some of his hair, the strands were starting to fall in his face, back gently.
"Poison on the dagger," I mumbled before chuckling bitterly. "Poisoned by my own twin brother. Pretty stupid of me, huh?"
Will exhaled with relief. "It's not so bad, Nova. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. Just lie still. Somebody hand me some nectar."
Percy grabbed a canteen. Will cleaned out the wound with the godly drink while he held my hand.
"Ow," I said, wincing in pain every time he applied it. It felt like it was burning away the poison but also my flesh with it. "Ow, ow!" I gripped his fingers so tight they turned purple, but I stayed still, like Will asked. Silena muttered words of encouragement. Will put some silver paste over the wound and hummed words in Ancient Greek—a hymn to Apollo. Then he applied fresh bandages and stood up shakily.
"Will." I said. "Sit down, you're drained."
He shook his head, looking just as pale, if not paler than me. "That should do it," he said. "But we're going to need some mortal supplies."
He grabbed a piece of hotel stationery, jotted down some notes, and handed it to one of the Athena guys. "There's a Duane Reade on Fifth. Normally I would never steal—"
"I would," Travis volunteered.
Will glared at him. "Leave cash or drachmas to pay, whatever you've got, but this is an emergency. I've got a feeling we're going to have a lot more people to treat."
Nobody disagreed. There was hardly a single demigod who hadn't already been wounded.. except Percy.
"Come on, guys," Travis Stoll said. "Let's give Nova some space. We've got a drugstore to raid . . . I mean, visit.
